Lakeville’s Regan Smith recorded a season-best time in the 200-meter backstroke final at the World Championships on Saturday in Singapore, touching the wall in 2 minutes, 4.29 seconds.

That was less than a second behind Australian backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown, and gave Smith her fourth individual silver medal of the major meet.

Smith also finished second in the 50 backstroke, 200 fly and the 100 backstroke, the latter was also won by McKeown.

Smith came out hard in Saturday’s race. She was ahead of world-record pace at the 100-meter mark and still held a three-hundredths advantage over McKeown at the final turn. But the Australian finished strong to comfortably win the race.

“Something I’ve been really working on is focusing on my own race. I think it really helped me on the outside lane, not seeing the other girls around me, and just really focusing on what I’ve been working on,” McKeown told reporters. “I don’t see a whole lot when I’m racing. I had to ask for my time at the end.”

Fellow American Claire Curzan finished third with a time of 2:06.04, putting two Americans on the podium in the event.

“It’s really special, it’s been a while since we had two Americans on the podium in the 200 backstroke,” Smith told reporters. “It’s 2025 and we have 3 years until the big dance (in LA) so that is something we absolutely want to repeat in the years going forward.”

Smith figures to swim the backstroke leg for Team USA in the women’s 4×100 medley relay on Sunday — the final day of competition. She won gold in that event in last year’s Olympics.

Bruce Helmer and Peg Webb

For many successful entrepreneurs, longtime employees with stock options, or heirs to a family business, the biggest financial decision of their lives is often not how to grow their wealth, but how to unlock it.

At Wealth Enhancement, we often work with clients who have spent decades building value in a privately held business or have accumulated significant equity through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), incentive stock options or inheritance.

For these clients, the decision to sell the business or diversify out of a concentrated equity position is not just financial — it can be highly emotional. And when it’s handled without foresight, it can lead to profound regret.

The emotional complexity of selling

Here’s a surprising statistic: 76% of business owners regret selling their business within one year of the sale, according to research by the Exit Planning Institute. That’s not because the sale went poorly. In many cases, it’s because the seller didn’t know what they wanted after the sale. They lacked a plan for what was next in life, or what to do with the money.

That regret isn’t limited to business owners. It also shows up in long-tenured employees who’ve accumulated large company stock positions and in individuals who inherit ownership in a family enterprise. When you’ve spent years (or generations) identifying with the company you’ve built, worked for, or inherited, the exit can feel like losing part of your identity.

So how do you avoid that sense of loss? How do you ensure that what could be a once-in-a-lifetime liquidity even leads to opportunity, not uncertainty?

Begin with the end in mind

One of the most powerful tools in successful transitions is a concept borrowed from the late Stephen Covey: Begin with the end in mind (One of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).

Start by clarifying your “wealth mission” — a statement of your goals, values and vision for what you want this money to accomplish. Whether you hope to retire, support a cause, invest in a new venture, or pass wealth down to future generations, this mission can help guide your decisions from a place of purpose, not just numbers.

Ten keys to a no-regrets exit

Our colleague Paul Brahim, CFP®, CEPA®, a specialist in advising company leaders and wealthy families on business exit strategies, has identified 10 key strategies to help business owners, employees with equity and inheritors plan for a confident and regret-free transition:

• Start early and define your why. Ask yourself: “What’s next?” Whether it’s more time with family or launching a nonprofit, the clarity of that vision will shape every decision that follows.

• Get the timing right. Don’t wait for perfect market conditions, but don’t rush, either. Review your financials, align with personal goals, and assess buyer interest or vesting schedules.

• Know your numbers. Understand what a buyer sees in your company. Get professional help to assess your financials and valuation.

• Get a formal valuation. Use multiple approaches (asset-based, income-based, and market-based) to determine a fair range.

• Build a strong leadership team. Whether you’re selling or stepping away, continuity matters. Buyers and boards want to see that the business can run without you.

• Prepare emotionally. Selling or stepping back can be surprisingly difficult. Be honest about the emotional impact and plan for it.

• Assemble the right advisory team. You’ll likely need a CPA, financial adviser, estate attorney, and possibly a business broker or transaction expert.

• Communicate clearly. Whether it’s employees, family members or co-owners, manage expectations with transparency and empathy.

• Focus on transferable value. Strengthen operations, reduce owner dependence, protect intellectual property and increase recurring revenue to boost valuation.

• Plan for life after the sale. A large liquidity event is not the finish line — it’s the starting point of the next chapter. Work with a financial adviser to map out how to invest, diversify and sustain income for the long run.

Considerations for equity-rich employees and heirs

If you’ve built up company stock through an ESOP or options over a long career, now could be the time to plan. Diversification becomes especially critical as retirement nears. Similarly, if you’ve inherited a stake in a family business, it’s essential to clarify ownership rights, valuation and long-term governance with your advisers and family members.

In both cases, too much of your financial future may be riding on one company. It’s wise to consider tax-smart strategies to gradually diversify your holdings.

Life transitions require reflection, and sometimes advice

Exiting a business or unwinding from a concentrated equity position is not a simple transaction. It’s a life transition. The difference between regret and confidence often comes down to planning early, asking the right questions, and surrounding yourself with the right people.

So if you’re thinking about making a move — whether it’s selling the company, exercising options, or passing ownership to the next generation—recognize that you don’t need to go it alone. There are professionals who do this work each day and who can bring great insight and experience to the process.

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Bruce Helmer and Peg Webb are financial advisers at Wealth Enhancement Group and co-hosts of “Your Money” on WCCO 830 AM on Sunday mornings. Email Bruce and Peg at yourmoney@wealthenhancement.com. Advisory services offered through Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC, a registered investment adviser and affiliate of Wealth Enhancement Group.

 

A 54-year-old South St. Paul woman was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Friday following a four-vehicle crash in Eagan, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

Anne Marie Stabe Keroff, of South St. Paul, was driving a 2022 Ford Escape northbound on Interstate 35E just north of Lone Oak Road shortly after 4:30 p.m. when a 2024 International MV607 box truck collided with her vehicle.

The box truck then hit a 1969 Chevrolet C10 and pushed it into a 2019 Ford F150. All vehicles were traveling northbound.

The drivers of the box truck and Ford F150, as well as their passengers, did not suffer any injuries, according to State Patrol. The driver of the Chevrolet, a man in his 50s, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was brought to Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

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WASHINGTON — Provisions in proposed federal legislation would limit enforcement of a mining ban in the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and return a pair of mineral leases to a company hoping to open a copper-nickel mine.

The language, included in the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of an appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency, would bar any money from being spent to enforce the 20-year moratorium on hard-rock mining on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest and reinstate two key mineral leases to company Twin Metals.

It comes even as Trump officials say they are taking steps to reverse the mineral withdrawal and reinstate the leases through an administrative process, which requires a public notice and comment period but no congressional approval.

The Trump administration announced June 11 its plans to take such steps, a day after Republicans struck language from the massive spending and tax bill that would have ended the withdrawal and returned the leases.

Asked if the legislative route would be faster or less prone to legal challenges than the Trump administration’s path, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota, said all possibilities were being considered.

“After Republicans took back the White House and Congress this past fall, I have maintained that all options are on the table to restore key leases and reverse the Biden administration’s harmful, politically motivated, and illegal mineral withdrawal in the Superior National Forest,” the congressman from Hermantown, Minnesota, said in an emailed statement. “I will pursue every avenue available to get this done quickly and decisively.”

The House Committee on Appropriations passed the bill July 24, the same day that the Senate Committee on Appropriations passed its Senate companion. However, the Senate version does not include language related to Twin Metal’s mineral leases or the mineral withdrawal.

Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, said he’s “very concerned” the language in the appropriations bill could make it into law.

“The assault is coming from really all branches of government,” Knopf said.

Unlike administrative actions, which can be reversed by a future president, laws passed by Congress would require another act of Congress to change.

The administrative back-and-forth on Twin Metals’ federal leases and the mineral withdrawal has been going on for more than eight years.

They were first enacted in the final days of the Obama administration. The first Trump administration then reversed those moves, but the Biden administration later reinstated them.

The Biden administration also released an accompanying U.S. Forest Service study that said hard-rock mining in the Rainy River Watershed could pose an environmental threat to the BWCAW, particularly for water quality, if the mineral withdrawal was not enacted and mining projects were allowed to proceed.

Twin Metals, owned by Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta, is hoping to build a large underground copper-nickel mine and dry-stacked tailings storage facility near Ely, Minnesota, and along Birch Lake, within the Rainy River Watershed and 5 miles from the BWCAW.

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But that would not be possible if the Biden administration’s actions were to stand.

In a statement, Twin Metals spokesperson Kathy Graul said the company remained “committed to pursuing the responsible development of the copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals resources in northeast Minnesota.”

“Twin Metals Minnesota appreciates the champions in Congress that recognize the significance of the domestic mineral resources that are available in northeast Minnesota, which are urgently needed to accomplish our nation’s energy independence, job creation and national security goals,” Graul said.

Lawmakers seek answers

In a July 18 letter to Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Democratic representatives from Minnesota — Betty McCollum, Angie Craig, Ilhan Omar and Kelly Morrison — urged the cabinet members to set up a meeting with them or respond to their list of questions.

The letter was also signed by Jared Huffman, D-California, and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine.

The letter largely took aim at Rollins’s June 11 post on X, formerly Twitter, which announced the U.S. Forest Service would be “initiating the process” to reverse the withdrawal.

“After careful review, including extensive public input, the US Forest Service has enough information to know the withdrawal was never needed,” Rollins said in the post.

While there has been extensive public comment during the withdrawal’s shifting status over the last eight years, the second Trump administration has not yet sought public comments on reversing the mineral withdrawal’s latest iteration.

Rollins’ post also misspelled “Rainy River.”

“The people of Minnesota and Americans nationwide overwhelmingly support permanent protection for the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness,” the lawmakers wrote. “The use of an inaccurate tweet lacking substantive detail has generated confusion and concern among our constituents, who have already provided extensive public input in support of protecting the Boundary Waters through a mineral withdrawal.”

Luke Bishop, a spokesperson for McCollum, said the Trump administration acknowledged the letter and intends to send a response in the future.

USDA did not respond to the News Tribune’s request for comment.

The Department of the Interior said in an email that while it does “not comment on congressional correspondence through the media, the Department of the Interior takes all correspondence from Congress seriously and carefully reviews each matter. Should there be any updates on this topic, we will provide further information at the appropriate time.”

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